Behind the Boys of Macdonald Hall: Silence Speaks a Thousand Words
by rozy8
Summary: The first in the Behind the Boys of Macdonald Hall series, based off of the movies (I still have yet to read the books). This story explains why Chris never speaks and his British accent when he does.
1. A broken promise

_It's not just about you, Bruno!  
Every time you come up with one  
of your crazy, wacky schemes,  
we're the ones who have to deal  
with the consequences,  
while you just go ahead  
and do something else crazy.  
And we've had enough. Enough!_

Chris lay awake in bed, thinking over what he said, regretting every word. Why did he have to go and break his pact over something as stupid as one of Bruno's schemes? Admittedly, it was illegal, but still. He made a promise, and a Talbot's word is supposed to be his honour. But he'd lost his cool and broken his promise.

"So, you aren't mute or anything?"  
He was sitting with his friends at breakfast, practically under interrogation after having avoided them the previous day.  
He held up his sketchpad that had YES|NO written on it and pointed to the NO.  
Wilbur looked confused. "So why don't you talk?"  
Chris pointed to the bottom of the page, which read "Yes/no questions only"  
"Okay," Wilbur said thoughtfully, "Are you going to tell us why?"  
Chris pointed to the YES.  
"Today?"  
NO.  
"Do you know when?" Elmer interjected.  
NO.  
"Guys," Boots interrupted, "Leave him alone. It's his business, not ours. I'm sure he'll tell us when he's ready. Right, Chris?"  
YES, accompanied by a nod and a grin.  
Bruno sighed. "Okay, okay, but this is beside the point. We still need to find a way to raise the rest of the money."  
"Bruno, it's finished. You heard what the Fish said-"  
Chris started to zone out. Boots and Bruno had both been given detention for the rest of the year, but Elmer, Wilbur and Chris had gotten out of it after Bruno said that they had nothing to do with it. Chris knew that his speech had caused Bruno to do this. It still didn't make him feel any better.

Chris woke up one day to Wilbur banging on his door.  
"Come on, dude, it's half term. Mom says that you can come into town with us if you're ready when we are."  
Usually, Chris would have thrown a pillow at the door as a way of acknowledging what Wilbur had said, but today he just didn't have the energy.  
"Dude? You awake?"  
Silence.  
"Hey, I'm coming in, okay?"  
Chris rolled over, trying to hide the tears slowly leaking out of his eyes.  
Wilbur came in and saw him lying on is side, his back to the door.  
"You okay, dude?"  
Chris nodded.  
"Bummed that your parents couldn't make it again?"  
Another nod.  
"It's probably hard to travel all the way from England to Canada, isn't it?"  
Chris shook his head.  
Wilbur sat down on the bed. "Hey, I'm sure they want to be here. It's probably just too expensive."  
He shook his head again.  
"Well, do you want to come with my family?"  
Chris mimed pen and paper, and Wilbur passed him his sketchpad and pencil.  
 _My parents don't come to Canada for the same reason they sent me here in the first place,_ He wrote.  
"And what reason was that?"  
 _They don't like me.  
_ "I doubt that's true."  
 _It is.  
_ "If you say so."  
 _I do say so.  
_ "Well, are you coming with my family or not?"  
Chris nodded, smiling.  
 _Thank you._


	2. A guest and a letter

Chris was following Wilbur out of his room when Bruno came running towards them.  
"Chris! There's a girl here to see you!" He shouted down the corridor.  
Wilbur turned around and looked at Chris in surprise. "A girl? Man, do you have some secret girlfriend you never told us about?"  
Chris shook his head, his brow creased in confusion. He only knew one girl that his friends didn't, and there was no way she was here.  
"Well, either way, she's here, and she says she wants to talk to you and all your friends, apparently."  
Chris looked at Bruno, extremely confused.  
"Yeah, I know, but that's what she said. The people in your friend group."  
Chris shrugged. Whoever this girl was, she probably has the wrong person. He wasn't the only Chris in this school.  
He followed Bruno to the front entrance where there were a lot of middle-aged parents wearing business suits and nice skirts, and boys in and out of uniform, and-  
Her.

She was standing there, wearing a pair of ripped jeans and hoodie that had "Walk up to the club like whaddup I have social anxiety and want to go home" written on it. She had a black scarf that she was wearing the way one would wear a hijab.  
A lot of the parents were glaring at her as if she didn't belong there, and she certainly didn't look as if she did. But she stood there, bold as brass, looking around.  
Chris's face broke into a massive grin and he ran towards her. She saw him just as he got to her and pulled him into a big hug, practically squeezing the life out of him.  
When she released him, Chris glanced over to his friends, who were obviously trying not to laugh.  
Wilbur walked over. "You sure she's not some secret girlfriend?  
Chris raised an eyebrow at him, then shook his head.  
Bruno followed Wilbur. "So who is this?"  
He went to write in his sketchpad but realised he had dropped it when he had run out of the corridor.  
The girl looked at him confused and signed _You okay?  
_ _I forgot my notepad._ He responded.  
 _What?  
_ _To talk to my friends.  
_ _You mean you-_ She got cut off by Wilbur exclaiming "What is going on?"  
Chris held up a finger to silence him, that was met with an indignant noise.  
 _I made a promise not to talk._ He signed.  
 _Yeah, in front of our parents. You can talk to your friends.  
_ He looked surprised. _Really?  
_ _Of course, idiot.  
_ _Don't call me idiot.  
_ _Sure thing, idiot._ She said, grinning.  
Chris turned to Wilbur and Bruno. "This is my sister, Morgana. Morrie, these are my friends Bruno and Wilbur."  
Morgana waved at them, and Bruno waved back awkwardly.  
Wilbur looked confused for a bit, then talked really slowly and loudly.  
"Hello, Morgana. My name is Wilbur."  
Chris shook his head. "You- you don't have to do that. She's not deaf."  
Wilbur's brow crinkled in confusion. "But you two were using sign language."  
"She's mute," Chris explained, shaking his head.  
"Ohhh," Wilbur exclaimed, a look of clarity crossing his face.  
Morgana smiled. _Do you know sign language?_ She asked.  
"I have no idea what you just said," Wilbur responded.  
Chris sighed. "She asked if either of you understand sign language."  
Bruno and Wilbur both shook their heads.  
"Thought not," Chris muttered.  
"Okay, but why is she here?" Bruno asked.  
Morgana handed Chris a note, which he then read out to all of his friends.  
"Dear son. We saw on the news about the brilliant entrepreneuring you and your school friends have exhibited in raising the money for your school's swimming pool. I have decided to invite them to our house over the holidays so that I may congratulate you all in person. Please send a letter back with your sister to confirm how many will be able to make it and of any other information we should be aware of. Sincerely, your father, Lord Vincent Talbot III, Earl of Wessex."  
This message was met with stunned silence from Bruno and Wilbur.  
"So… kitchen meeting?"


End file.
